The International Day of Friendship celebrates the diversity of Brooklyn with global culture, cuisines, customs and performances
Today, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams proclaimed Sunday, August 6 to be the "International Day of Friendship" in Brooklyn, to celebrate the hundreds of cultures and ethnicities that make the borough a center of diversity.
"Our diversity is our greatest strength as Americans and that's what International Day of Friendship is all about," said Borough President Adams.
The day will begin at 1:00pm with a Unity Parade of Flags, featuring the flags of 195 nations marching down Fulton Street toward Brooklyn Borough Hall. Following the parade, which will include dancers, drummers and stilt walkers, the festivities at Brooklyn Borough Hall and Columbus Park will continue until 5:00pm with a series of artistic and cultural performances from a wide variety of groups represented in the borough.
A Global Village, with tents from countries around the world showcasing their cultures, cuisines, and customs, will feature nations such as Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Egypt, Mongolia, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, and Tanzania, as well as regional displays on the Caribbean and Oceania. Additionally, a taste of ethnic cuisine will be provided from an array of local food trucks.
NY1 anchor/reporter Jeanine Ramirez will host "Brooklyn Fusion," a conversation which will feature immigrant New Yorkers offering their perspectives on how they have preserved their culture while assimilating to American life.
"Our borough is made up of a beautiful mosaic of customs, faiths, languages and personal stories of perseverance. This celebration is all about bringing people together so that we can all appreciate our differences, learn from them and embrace our own and other hyphens, from Dominican-American and Italian-American to Japanese-American and Nigerian-American," said Adams.
And to end such a day on a truly beautiful note, the International Day of Friendship celebration will, as in previous years, culminate with a mass singing of "We Are The World."
